Telling Her
by Ghost501
Summary: Free of Tartarus, Annabeth is forced to be the messenger of bad news as she has to do what no one wants to do: tell a mother that their child is dead.


All right PJO fans, here you go. No, this isn't Project DAC. But, it is an in-betweener in the Blade Ark. This takes place right after the events of _Blade of Sorrow_. Enjoy.

* * *

Annabeth swallowed as she came up to the door. She had never prepared herself for something like this. This hadn't been the first time that she had come to this door to deliver sad news. But this time, she herself could feel the effects of the information that she was about to give. Annabeth could feel herself getting heavier by the second. She looked up to the ceiling above her, _'If anyone is listening, please help me. This isn't the way I wanted this to end like.'_

Then she put her trembling fist to the door, and knocked. For once, she was praying that Mrs. Jackson wasn't home.

* * *

When Sally Jackson opened the door, she hadn't been expecting Annabeth Chase. At least, she had not expected her in the state that she was in. The girl, despite still retaining her youth, looked several years older than she should. Dark rims surrounded her eyes and her figure was much thinner than Sally had remembered seeing her those months before. As her son's girlfriend enter the room, a sudden feeling of despair wormed its way into Sally's heart. The last time Annabeth came to her home this emotional; Percy had only been missing without cause.

But now, Annabeth looked even worse than she had all those months ago. She walked as if she was dead on the inside. As if someone had ripped her heart out, stomped on it, and then, just for fun, threw it into a fire while she watched these actions happen to it. What had happened to her? Had Percy been injured?

Or…oh please no. Anything, but that.

Annabeth had barely walked more than two feet into the house before she froze. She, herself, didn't want to be here. It reminded her so much of him. This place was intoxicating. Everything here, including Sally herself, was a reminder of him. Annabeth didn't want to be here. She could feel her throat begin to close up and the tears beginning to fall down her cheeks.

_'Why the Hades did you leave me here without you, you selfless jerk. I would hate you…but I can't. I'm in love with you…bad. Even if you're gone, I still love you. I don't think, no, I know anyone could take your spot. But…why did you have to make things so hard for me?'_ Annabeth thought. She couldn't even laugh at the fact that although she promised to never make things easy for Percy; here he was making things hard for her, in the worst way possible.

"Annabeth, Where's Percy?" Sally asked, her voice getting small. Grover had come by and informed her that both Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus; but he had reassured the worried mother that if anyone could make it out Tartarus, it was those two.

So why was it that only Annabeth was in her home? She briefly considered it to be a prank, but then noticed by Annabeth's body language that it was extremely unlikely that Percy was hiding around waiting for her guard to drop.

"He's…he's…de…" Annabeth almost chocked on the words. No, they were too real. To saw someone is dead is to eradicate the hope that they will return; but in a strange way, Annabeth never considered him dead. Only gone. Gone out of her life. Gone from the surface. But never dead. If he was dead, then she too would be dead. He had become so precious to her that he was another part of her.

Without him, she was missing a part of herself, "Percy's gone. He…he pushed me out at the last second. I can't explain it. One second, we were ready to close the doors and then the next…a wave hit me. It washed me out Tartarus before I realized what he had done. He saved me." Annabeth breathed before speaking again, "I know how powerful he is…but it's been three weeks…to be down there for so long with no weapon or help and all those monsters…it's still possible that he's alive, but the odds aren't good..."

She turned her head to see Mrs. Jackson absorb the information. Then Percy's mother broke down. Annabeth went close to her and tried to hug her. But the woman was well beyond her gesture of comfort. Sally collapsed to her knees and cried. Although Annabeth had tried to give her hope, Sally knew that her son was gone. If he had been done there for three weeks without a weapon, there was no chance that he would come out alive. He was the bane of every monster down there with him. Surely, one of them would find a way to break him and then kill him.

Although it was not her place as a mother to give up hope, reality smacked Sally in the face. Percy was stuck in the most dangerous and destructive place in the mortal and Greek world. He had no weapon. And he had been surrounded. It hand't helped her that she had seen three woman looking idly at a piece of string. The trio had looked curiously at the thread, as if wondering if it was going to break all by itself. Sally didn't have to be a demigod to know that she had seen the Fates. She didn't have to be a child of Athena to know that that was her son's life in their hands. She knew that his time was coming; she had felt a sense of dread slowly take her ever since he disappeared. But she had never believed that it would have ended like this. Even after everything he had been through, she had never imagined her son dying in a place so cruel and lonely. He had never deserved such a fate. He was the kindest and most loyal soul that she had ever seen. After everything he had gone through, why did it have to end for him in that pit?

* * *

Annabeth didn't leave the building until two hours later. She hated leaving Sally like that, but the grieving mother told her that she just wanted some time to herself.

The girl turned her grey eyes to the sky. It was blue…his favorite color. She found the ability to smile as she remembered their first airplane flight together. Percy had spent the whole time preparing to pee his pants while she and Grover tried to get him to calm down.

_'Percy.'_ She thought. She touched her cheek to find more tears again. _'You're not dead. You can't be dead. The world just wouldn't be right without you. You have to find a way out. I don't know how, but you have to. Everyone needs you. Your mom needs you. I need you. I need you next to me to tell me that you're alright and that I need to stop worrying about you so much. I need you to tell me that everything is going to be alright. The nightmares about our time in Tartarus seem to be even less scary than a life without you in it. _

'_You kept me sane in Tartarus. Without you, I feel myself losing myself. I wake up each morning wondering when you'll be coming back. I need you to come back Percy, because I'm not sure how much longer I can be me without you. You've changed me, Percy. Whether for better or worse, you've changed me. So, you better get you're scrawny but back up here, otherwise I coming back to get you.'_

It had been only three weeks since Annabeth had been saved from Tartarus; but that meant it had been three weeks that Percy had been there without her. She prayed to any god listening to give him strength while he was done there fighting to stay alive. If he had died down there…no…she wasn't going to think about that. She would never consider him dead. Not until she had proof of his demise. He had a slim chance, but he had always managed to prove chance wrong. Percy needed to survive down there. He just had too.

Annabeth turned behind her. In a strange way, maybe it was better for Percy's mother to think he was gone. Mrs. Jackson could begin to grieve. Unlike Annabeth, his mother couldn't be with Percy every step of the way. She would always have to wait, never knowing what was going on and always hoping that her son would return. At least now, she would be able to rest. Then Annabeth scolded herself for such thoughts. Mrs. Jackson would never be the same. Like her, Percy was her everything. Without him, life just wasn't the same. She may never truly recover from his…disappearance. Maybe in a strange way, she was better off than Annabeth.

At least she was on her way to moving on. At least she wasn't able to face more hurt than she was right now. In the meantime, Annabeth was only trying to delay the worst of it for as long as she could. Because if she believed in his death; no, she didn't want to know how much pain that would be. No, not unless she had too. She couldn't go through pain like that. Mrs. Jackson was much stronger than she was. She had the ability to face the pain. Annabeth didn't.

The girl turned back around and continued walking down the road from the house, completely lost in her thoughts. Even though she didn't want to admit it, she knew that one day she might have to face this pain. Little did she know that that day would be in a week and three months' time, when she would wake up and find Riptide on her dresser but no Percy. The day was coming when she would have to realize that Percy was not gone…he was dead.


End file.
